Screams from the Tower Is a Sweet Queer Teen Throwback
Cory Wexler Grant's indie comedy follows two misfit teens whose high school radio show sparks controversy and strains their friendship.
If ’80s teen movie master John Hughes had been brave enough or interested enough to explore the obvious queer subtext in any of his classic coming-of-age comedies (we’re looking at you, Duckie), he might have come up with something like Screams from the Tower — though probably funnier and with a better soundtrack.
Cory Wexler Grant wrote and directed this sweet, engaging, and still chuckle-worthy trip back to 1995, set at a suburban Illinois high school.
Clearly inspired by Hughes films and the TV series Glee, Grant’s film deals in obvious gay subtext, as well as loud-and-proud coming-out drama, in its touching story of best friends Julien (Richie Fusco) and Cary (David Bloom) co-hosting a wild and crazy morning show on their school’s public radio station.
Fusco and Bloom are in fast-talking sync, capturing Julien and Cary’s snappy rapport as lifelong friends and free-wheeling radio hosts. The duo’s show, “Screams from the Tower,” ignites controversy from its first episode with spicy jokes and language, earning them the ire of power-tripping radio station supervisor Mare (Sara Sevigny).
But despite, or because of, their tendency to disregard almost all of Mare’s rules, the hosts and their exuberantly weird show catch on with a relatively vast audience of friends, parents, teachers, and gospel-singing lunch lady April (Melody Betts).
Their in-your-face, on-the-air antics also raise the buds’ social profile at school, where they and their clique are considered misfits. Much to Julien’s delight, “Screams from the Tower” becomes a haven for the kids who are different.
Cary, on the other hand, doesn’t wear the label of “different” so proudly. “You and I are freaks,” he shouts at Julien, when cracks start to form in their friendship and on-air partnership.
The movie charts a compelling Ghost World trajectory of two bestie outcasts who diverge over one staying committed to blooming in the margins, while the other seeks the security of so-called normality. Beyond the shifting dynamics of their relationship, though, the film stays pretty low on plot and incident.
Julien and Cary are practically the only two characters given any meaningful development, though the cast is generally solid. Accounting for one standout character, at least, Madison Tevlin, an actress with Down syndrome, delivers one of the film’s strongest comedic performances as Suzy, a student program director at the radio station who allows her crush on Julien to heavily influence her judgment.
Suzy gets some of the film’s best lines, and plays a part in Julien coming to terms with his identity. Late in the film, the story pivots to a subplot, planted early, expanding his identity to include a mental health issue that registers as a random tangent, not firmly integrated into the tale Grant’s telling about these teens as a pair and as individuals.
Those somewhat dour scenes feel tonally off. Fusco’s performance more effectively conveys the unbridled energy Julien brings to his chatty radio persona, and to embracing being different. Wholesome for a teen comedy, Screams doesn’t get into gay sex or romance, but Julien is flamboyantly himself everywhere he goes.
Portraying the more reserved Cary, Bloom (recently seen as teenage Al in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) excels in the opposite task of showing an expressive guy stifling himself to fit in.
On Cary’s side, much remains unsaid, adding a wrinkle of subtlety to the performance that Bloom pulls off especially beautifully in the final scene between Cary and Julien, when the two best friends know better where they’re each headed after high school. Without a word, they express a poignant understanding that feels like an authentic moment in a friendship that neither will ever forget.
Screams from the Tower (★★★☆☆) is available to rent or purchase via digital on Apple TV, Prime Video, Fandango at Home, and other platforms.
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